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Tennis has no place in Olympics: Safin
Marat Safin has said that he is only competing at the Athens Olympics this summer because he's representing Russia.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:04 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
England :
Marat Safin after losing 4-6 7-5 6-3 7-6 (1) to fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the first round at the Wimbledon said that he is only competing at the Athens Olympics this summer because he's representing Russia. The 2000 US Open champion said tennis pros already had enough major events and the Olympics should be reserved for amateurs and other sports that need that kind of exposure. "The Olympics is not for tennis.... tennis doesn't need the Olympic Games," Safin said. "I have to do it, but it's not my goal in life to win the Olympic Games," he added. Safin said that Marc Rosset of Switzerland was not really proud of the Olympic gold medal he won at Barcelona in 1992 and fellow Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov feels the same way about the gold he won at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Wayne Ferreira, appearing here in a record 55th consecutive Grand Slam event, disagreed entirely with Safin's assessment. Ferreira rated his Olympic silver medal for doubles in Barcelona as a career high. He was South Africa's first Olympic medalist in 32 years. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
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